Monza: Steve Martin race report

Unjust Monza Misery for Martin
Hard charger Steve Martin experienced an unjust race weekend at Monza in
Italy, with a 16th place finish in race one and retirement in race two
unreflective of his and his bike crew's outstanding efforts over ...

Unjust Monza Misery for Martin

Hard charger Steve Martin experienced an unjust race weekend at Monza in
Italy, with a 16th place finish in race one and retirement in race two
unreflective of his and his bike crew's outstanding efforts over the
three days.

Steve commented, "I'm obviously just very disappointed with the way the
weekend has gone, but it's what you've got to expect when the bikes only
get worked on at the track and are not prepared before hand, you've only
got a bike crew of two mechanics instead of six to do everything and
there are no resources coming your way from the team."

As financial difficulties with the DFX Honda team continue, Steve's bike
crew were left with no choice other than to leave to Italian squad the
week before the Monza race, leaving the Aussie facing a difficult weekend
before it even started.

"We've had a number of technical issues over the weekend which haven't
helped progress," continued Steve. "But Baz, my crew chief, and Gary, a
former FPR mechanic who stood in for this race, both did a totally
amazing job and worked harder than I ever could have asked for. But 2
people just can't be expected, or even try to, do 4 weeks worth of work
of 6 guys, in just 3 days!"

Despite a difficult start in race one, Steve was able to put in
consistent and competitive race lap times to work his way up the field to
14th. However whilst overtaking Xaus on the final lap to take 13th place
at the chequered flag, Steve's Honda started to run out of fuel causing
the bike to 'miss' and the Aussie to drop back to a very frustrating
16th position and out of the points.

Race two saw Steve experience a confusing and slow start, as Lorenzo
Lanzi raised his hand on the line indicating that a false start may be
called or that the race start was compromised - neither of which
materialised. Steve progressively made his way up the field again to 14th
by the eighth lap, with further inroads possible as Steve showed good
pace. However, further misfortune struck when his Honda's gear lever fell
off on lap ten, leaving Steve unable to change gear and therefore ending
his race.